2am Knows All Secrets [Kiribaku]

can't escape the nightmares

"Hey, man, you okay?"

"What?" Eijirou blinked up at Kaminari. After a beat, the words processed, snapping him fully out of his thoughts. "Oh! Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good! Because I'm gonna need as much brainpower as you can muster for this."

Eijirou grimaced, because with how scattered his mind was, good freakin' luck with that. He took a breath, pushing his own thoughts to the back burner to focus on the present. Pop music blared from a speaker on a nearby shelf. Gaudy décor on all sides. The two of them sat on Kaminari's floor, surrounded by crushed energy drinks and what were probably days-old dirty clothes — Eijirou tried not to think about that too much. Kaminari had called him up earlier, panicking about their huge English review packet that was due on the first day of class. Which was in three days.

"I don't know why you think I'm gonna help," Eijirou shrugged. "I'm not much better at this plural crap than you are."

"What did you get on the English final last term?"

"An eighty-seven...?"

"And what did I get?"

Eijirou sighed and hung his head. "A sixty-six."

Kaminari pointed his pencil at him. "Ex-actly. So, no slacking! Someone's academic career depends on it!" He waved his packet in front of Eijirou's face. "Now check my work! And please be nice to me!"

He was in luck, since Eijirou had already gone over this part of the packet with Bakugou just days before. He snatched the papers out of his face and looked them over, offering the occasional correction to an utterly befuddled Kaminari — "What do you mean the plural of garbage is not garbages? What the hell is it, then?"

Eijirou tried really hard to put his heart into it. Kaminari was his friend, and he needed help, and that was kinda Eijirou's whole deal, wasn't it? But the further the sun dipped in the sky, the more difficult focusing became. As Kaminari scribbled another correction into the worksheet, Eijirou stole a glance at his phone. Well past six, with no new notifications. Bakugou usually texted by now, to check in at least.

His thoughts turned to that morning, waking up for the first time on that cold futon, all alone. He should be happy. Bakugou hadn't had a nightmare — that meant their plan was working. He was getting better, all thanks to Eijirou. That was a good thing. Right?

Eijirou frowned.

Soon, he wouldn't be needed anymore, would he?

"Hey." A socked foot poked at his calf. "You're distracted again."

For a second time, Eijirou blinked back into the present. "I'm fine!"

"Suuuuure." Kaminari took a deep breath, then buzzed the exhale between his lips. "Man," he whined, hugging his knees to his chest and smearing his cheek against them, "I'm gonna have to take the L on this assignment, aren't I?"

"Sorry," Eijirou winced.

Kaminari gave a 'psh' with a flippant wave of his hand. "Nah, this is on me for putting it off for so long. My head's starting to hurt, anyway. I'll just rope Jirou or Yaoyorozu into helping me tomorrow." He sat upright again and chugged some more of his energy drink. "So. We haven't had much of a chance to catch up since moving in, huh? What's up with you? You were, like, suuuper weird that first week."

Now, following that line of conversation could spiral into dangerous territory if he wasn't careful. Eijirou simply shrugged. "I guess I was just tired."

"Fine, don't tell me," Kaminari pouted. "Although to be fair, I think we've all been pretty wired and sleep-deprived. Jeez, the number of all-nighters Sero and I have pulled playing video games. Seriously! One moment we're wishing people goodnight, the next moment, the sun's coming up and we both totally eat dirt in training." He chuckled to himself. "It's been pretty yikes. Oh yeah, and Iida's already gotten on my ass for playing my music, like, a dozen times. Seriously, being his neighbor sucks." He gulped down the rest of his energy drink, then crushed the can in his hand and tossed it aside. "Who all's on your floor again? It's Shouji, and... Bakugou, right?"